The big Apple event - WWDC 2011 keynote - is now over. We saw some great announcements in the event, such as OS X Lion, iOS 5 and iCloud like we expected. Before the event we already knew or rather speculated on the features of OS X Lion and iOS 5. However, there was no information as far as iCloud is concerned. Let us take a look about what this service has to offer.

The idea behind iCloud is quite simple and nothing new. The service stores user's content (data like photos, music, apps etc.) in the cloud and will smoothly push them from a Mac or PC to all of the user’s other iOS devices. So, the cloud is going to serve as a hub from where you can access your stuffs using your different devices. iCloud will offer easy syncing of basic data like contacts, calendars, and email. Add to this, the content-syncing service in the cloud is for free. You can use the cloud as daily backups of data like photos, music, apps, and books.

Photo Stream Service

This service, which is a gallery kind of feature, will keep all the photo on the iOS devices, Macs, Windows PCs, Apple TV etc. synchronized with the iCloud. So, you can take a picture on the iPhone, use the cloud and download it on any other device. These photos will be stored in the cloud for thirty days. The Photos do not count in the 5GB space that will be provided in the iCloud service.

iTunes Match

If you are worried about the songs which you have not bought via iTunes this service is going to help you. All the music files you have on your system - regardless of whether it is bought from iTunes or from other sources - will get equal benefit under this service. iTunes will scan all the music files on your system and match it up with those songs in the iTunes store and if any songs do not match they will be uploaded for you. Anything that is matched is automatically upgraded to 256Kbps AAC quality. According to Apple, that the entire uploading will take very small time unlike existing similar facilities.

The service will cost $25 flat - it does not depend of the numbers of songs you have. It could possibly give a good competition to Amazon Cloud Player and Google Music beta. At Amazon and Google one needs to pay more for larger music library.

Conclusion

iCloud will be released concurrent with iOS 5 this fall. This service will help all supported Apple devices integrate properly with the cloud. Having the hub of your data in the cloud and accessing it from anywhere rather than having it on the home computer is one important aspect of the service. One thing that Apple has come up with development of iCloud - even a common man will have an easy understanding of this cloud service. iCloud service services many domains and has good features. The future of iCloud seems bright. Let us wait and watch how the market treats it.